All-Armenian Tournament of Young Chemists

If you’re a fan of chemistry and fascinated by chemical experiments and discoveries, this competition is for you. Since 2010, Ayb Educational Foundation has organized the All-Armenian Tournament of Young Chemists, designed for students who love chemistry. The tournament is an interactive game in which 9 to 12 graders solve advanced chemistry problems, debate over science topics and present the results of their researches. The idea of the initiative and the organizational technologies of the tournament are borrowed from a similar All-Ukrainian Tournament.

The All-Armenian Tournament of Young Chemists is unique in its kind in Armenia. It grants high school students the opportunity to work cooperatively and find solutions to problems that are probably yet unsolved, delve into the global practice and come up with their own solutions.

The tournament is held in three rounds:

• Quarter-final – The teams participate in a chemistry quiz, where students have a set period of
time to answer the questions of the questionnaire.
• Semi-final – From 6 to 12 teams advance to the semi-final.
• Final – The winning teams of the previous round compete, and the final winner is determined.

All participants in all three rounds receive participation certificates and small souvenirs. Winners of the final round and their coaches are awarded diplomas and prizes. To encourage the participants and based on the results of the semi-final, the jury awards additional certificates to the "Best Speaker", "Best Opponent" and "Top Reviewer" among all the teams and "Best Participant" in each given team. In addition, based on the individual results, the jury awards 1st, 2nd and 3rd place certificates.

To show the whole appeal and charm of the competition, let’s have a look at some scientific problems offered to participants of the All-Armenian Tournament of Young Chemists.

1. Matenadaran – Identify the main physical and chemical processes that underlie the “aging” of paintings, books and manuscripts. How can this process be slowed down? Describe the main ways of canvas restoration and list their drawbacks.
2. Оrganism as a test tube – The organism can be viewed as a perfect test tube, where numerous and diverse reactions proceed in regularized mechanisms. Describe some of the transformations and the results of their malfunction.
3. “Invisible ink” – Name a substance or a mixture of substances endowed with reversible-reaction invisible ink capacities. Assess the possibility of using such ink.

The competition allows students to present solutions in an interesting way, which has to not only capture the attention of the jury and the audience through fluent speech or skilled argumentation, but also be fully grounded on knowledge. The All-Armenian Tournament of Young Chemists brings together dedicated teachers and students from different regions of Armenia. The tournament enables establishment of school-university links as well as teacher-student-lecturer-scientist partnerships.

We cooperate
We thank all the organizations listed below for their valuable support in the realization of this project:

This option is available through our partner Vem USA a 501 (c)(3) corporation, tax ID # 20-3573120. The checks should be sent out to Vem USA and mailed to 2858 Pinelawn Drive, La Crescenta, CA 91214. Please do not forget to mention the purpose of your donation..